How to Order Food and Drinks in Italian 🇮🇹 FREE PDF [Italian for Beginners]

Whether you're visiting Italy for a dream holiday or you're planning to move to Il Bel Paese, literally the beautiful country, knowing how to order food in Italian is essential. Imagine how special and rewarding your travel experiences will be when you can greet locals in Italian and then confidently order your morning coffee and croissant or pizza for dinner. In this video you're going to learn how to order food and drink in Italian and then let them know if you have any special dietary requirements. Pronti? Are you ready? Cominciamo. Let's get started. Hi, my name is Michelle. I'm the Intrepid Guide, your guide to language learning for travel. And if you're new to my channel, make sure you hit the subscribe button and click on the bell notification so you get an alert when I post more videos like this one. So let's start with Italian Now, Italians eat three meals a day. La prima colazione, breakfast, il pranzo, lunch and la cena, dinner. For Italians, il pranzo, lunch, is the most important meal of the day. And in some parts of Italy, especially in the south, Italians will go home and have a long lunch with their family before returning to work in the late afternoon. And dinner times vary around the country. For example, restaurants in Venice stop serving dinner much earlier than those in Rome. We can still go out to eat as late as 9 p.m. or 10 p.m. Next up we have il bar. So Italians start their day either having breakfast a casa, at home, or al bar, at the cafe. Now the Italian bar is what the English speaking world calls a cafe. Now Italians usually order un cafe, un cornetto, a coffee and a croissant for breakfast. And then they stop by later in the day in the afternoon for a panino, a sandwich, or a salty snack before enjoying a before dinner drink with friends. And this is called an aperitivo. Now Italian croissants come in five variations and they can be semplice, plain, salata, savory, or filled with marmalata, which is jam. They also have crema, custard, or cioccolato, chocolate. Drinking coffee is a way of life in Italy and has its own culture that is different from what you're probably used to. Now when you ask that barista or il cameriere, the waiter, for un cafe, a coffee, you'll get an espresso. Now this is Italy's preferred and most common way to drink coffee. So how do you order an Italian coffee? Not sure what your favorite coffee is called in Italian? Well here is a list of common coffee terms to keep in mind when you're ordering your coffee al bar, at the bar. Un cafe ag. This is a super popular brand for instant decaffeinated coffee. Un cafe. When you order un cafe, you automatically get an espresso. Un cafe ristretto. This is a very strong and concentrated espresso. Un cafe doppio. This is a double espresso. Un cafe lungo. Espresso with more water to make it less concentrated. Un cafe corretto. Espresso with a bit of cognac or another liqueur. Un cappuccino. Espresso with frothed milk. Un cafe latte. Espresso with plenty of milk. Un cafe macchiato. Espresso with a dash of milk. Un latte macchiato. Hot milk with a dash of espresso. Un cafe americano. A strong American style coffee. Un cafe decaffeinato. Decaffeinated coffee. Un cafe d'orzo. This is an espresso style caffeine free roasted grain beverage made from ground barley and you can have it strong or light. Caffè freddo. Caffè shakerato. Iced coffee. Now here are some tips for ordering drinks in Italy. Now coffee doesn't come in various portion sizes so don't ask for a large or a super-sized cappuccino. The next tip is Italians mostly drink their coffee standing at the bar because if you sit down the price will be higher. Italians don't drink milk any time after breakfast. This includes cappuccino. Now it's considered a faux pas to order a cappuccino any time after 11 a.m. So if you want the latter you have to ask for a cafe latte because latte on its own is just that. It's just milk. The next one is Italians are not big tea drinkers. They generally only drink it before going to bed or when they are sick. Instead of milk they will add lemon. So if you want milk in your tea you have to ask for un po' di latte freddo. A little bit of cold milk. If you're not a big coffee drinker you can also order cioccolata calda. Hot chocolate. Tea. Tea. Tea freddo. Ice tea. La tisana. A herbal tea. Una camomilla. Camomile tea. Succo di frutta. Fruit juice. Spremute. A fresh squeezed fruit juice. Spremuta d'arancia. A freshly squeezed orange juice. Acqua. Water. Acqua minerale. Mineral water. Acqua gassata. Sparkling water. Acqua frizzante. Sparkling water. Acqua liscia o acqua naturale. Still water. In estate or summer you may also want your drink con ghiaccio, with ice. When you order a drink in Italy you may want to specify how much you would like and you can use these following phrases. Un bicchiere di. A glass of. Una bottiglia di. A bottle of. Una caraffa di. A carafe of. Un mezzo litro di. Half a litre of. Next up. When do you pay? Quando si paga? Now when you go to an Italian bar it can be tricky to know when you need to pay. As a general rule of thumb in small Italian bars with just a couple of people behind the bar you generally order at the bar first then tell the cashier afterwards what you had and pay then. In larger bars you generally have to pay at la casa, the cash register first. You get a receipt called a scontrino and take the receipt over to the barista to place your order. So how do you order breakfast al bar? Now to feel like a local during a trip to Italy I highly recommend finding a bar that you like and going there each morning. This way il barista, the barman, will get to know you and engage in conversation. Now here is a short but common exchange in dialogue that you're likely to encounter when placing an order at your local bar. Buongiorno. Un caffè e un cornetto semplice per favore. Certo. Qualcos'altro? No grazie. Nient'altro. Ecco il caffè e il cornetto. Prego. In Italy there are various types of eating establishments to choose from each with a unique dining experience. Now here is a list of the most common eateries you'll come across in your travels. Osteria. This is a moderately priced restaurant with a short menu of simple foods like pasta, grilled meat and wine. Trattoria. This is a step up from an osteria and typically run by a family and serving rustic home-cooked meals. Ristorante. This is a higher end full-service dining establishment. Enoteca. This is a wine bar sometimes also serving small plates. Pizzeria. Now these specialize in making pizza and they are a relaxed and cheap way of dining out and ideal for big groups. Now both lunch and dinner usually consist of several courses. These include un antipasto, an appetizer which is usually served hot or cold and antipasti vary from region to region. Il primo piatto. First course. Now il primo is when you get your pasta, your risotto and a minestra, a soup. Il secondo. The second which is the second course is where you'll either get carne, meat, pesce, fish and is served and prepared in a wide variety of ways. I contorni. Side dishes or a side dish. Now the second course doesn't come with anything other than the meat or fish that you order so vegetables need to be ordered separately. Il dolce. The dessert. Now dessert can be un dolce so a sweet, frutta fresca, fresh fruit or una macedonia, a fruit salad. So let's take a look at ordering with the verbs prendere and volere. So when ordering food in Italian the verb that you should use is prendere which literally means to take but in this context it means to have and you use the conjugated form of prendere whenever you order food or drinks. So whenever you speak you change verbs to reflect the subject of the verb specifying who was doing the action. Now this process of changing verbs is called conjugating. For example if you say she'll have a pizza then she is the subject. She is the person conducting the action. Now let's take a look at how to conjugate the verb prendere, to take or to have in the present tense. Another verb that you can use when ordering food and drink is volere, to want. To express politeness when ordering food Italians will also use the conditional tense of volere which means would like. Now here is the conjugation for the verb volere, to want using the conditional tense. For tips on how to conjugate Italian verbs in three simple steps just check out my video which I've linked to in the description below. Prego versus prego. Now there are many meanings of prego. Let's discuss them. Now prego is one of the most used and versatile words in the Italian language and it carries several meanings all of which depend on the context in which it's used. Now you can say prego in response to grazie, thank you, which means you're welcome and shop will also say prego to ask what you would like or if they can help you. You'll often hear prego as a question when you enter a store or prego as another question when you're next in line somewhere. You can also use prego when you're giving something to someone. In this context it means here you go or here you are. Now prego is also a polite reply when asking for permission. So here are a few examples of how prego is used. So here are some other useful Italian phrases you may hear or want to use. Do you have a reservation? No we don't have a reservation. Can I make a reservation? I would like a table for tonight. Near the window please. For what time? For how many people? I'm a vegetarian, male. I'm a vegetarian, female. I'm allergic to, male. I'm allergic to, female. Nuts, peanuts. Gluten, soy, egg. Milk, lactose. Dairy, flour, wheat. So there we have it, how to order food and drink in Italian. Enjoy your meal. Now if you're serious about learning Italian make sure you check out my free guide, seven common mistakes in Italian and how to avoid them. Just click on the link in the description below and I'll send you your free guide. And if you have a trip coming up to Italy you might also want to check out my course Intrepid Italian which is specifically designed to get you speaking Italian ahead of your trip. There is a private Facebook group, email access to me and you get lifetime access to the online materials. In the meantime hit that like button, subscribe to my channel and turn on the notifications so you get an alert when I post more videos like this one. Until next time, thanks for watching and happy language learning. Ciao!